Sachin Tendulkar is arguably the greatest ever batsman the world has ever seen. The Little Master owns every possible batting record in cricket. Tendulkar is the leading run-scorer in both Test and ODI cricket. The legendary batsman also leads the list when it comes to centuries. Tendulkar remains the only batsman who has scored 100 international centuries.
However former World Cup-winning Indian captain Kapil Dev still believes that Tendulkar underachieved in his career. Kapil Dev pointed out that Tendulkar never became a ruthless batsman even after having an abundance of natural talent. Kapil also added that the little master never knew how to convert a century into a double or triple hundred during his long 24-year career.
Tendulkar didn’t know how to convert 100s into 200s and 300s – Kapil Dev
“Sachin had so much talent that I hadn’t seen it in anyone. He knew how to score hundreds but he never became a ruthless batsman. Sachin had everything in cricket. He knew how to score hundreds but didn’t know how to convert those hundreds into 200s & 300s,” Kapil Dev told former India cricketer and current women’s team head coach WV Raman in an interview.
Meanwhile, Sachin Tendulkar only scored six double centuries and failed to cross the 300 run mark even once in an innings in 200 Test matches. Out of 51 Test tons, Tendulkar scored more than 150 in only 20 occasions. Incidentally, Kapil Dev played alongside Sachin Tendulkar in the early phase of his career.
He also worked with Tendulkar for a brief period when he became the coach of team India in the late 1990s. Kapil reckons that the reason why Tendulkar failed to score several double and triple hundreds has to do a lot with the batting culture in Mumbai.
“Sachin should’ve made five triple centuries and another 10 double tons because he could hit fast bowlers and spinners for a boundary every over.”
“Since he was from Mumbai they had a mindset of when you score a hundred make a line and start from zero again. And that’s where I said no, you are such a ruthless cricketer, bowlers should fear you.
Sachin’s talent was par excellence. But after a scoring a hundred he used to take singles and didn’t become ruthless”, Kapil Dev concluded.
